This groundbreaking collection provides the first detailed social analysis of football within Africa. The book should be compulsory reading, for social scientists in sport studies and African studies and for informed football followers everywhere.

Drama, Fields and Metaphors: An Introduction to Football in Africa; R.Giulianotti & G.Armstrong PART ONE: CONTESTED SELECTIONS Containment and Counter-Attack: A History of Eritrean Football; A.Last Football in Algeria: Between Violence and Politics; Y.Fates 'A Story of Heroes, of Epics': The Rise of Football in Nigeria; W.Boer Between Colonialism, Independence and Globalism: Football in Zimbabwe; R.Giulianotti PART TWO: FOOTBALLING COLOURS Ngoma Reverberations: Swahili Music Culture and the Making of Football Aesthetics in Early Thirteenth Century Zanzibar; L.Fair Football and Apartheid Society: The South African Soccer League, 1960-1966; P.Alegi Football and Ethnicity in Mauritius: (Re)producing Communal Allegiances; T.Edensor & I.Koodoruth Chasing the Ghosts: Narratives of Football and Nation in Morocco; G.Stanton PART THREE: OFF THE BALL MOVEMENTS France in the Cameroonian Football Imagination; B.Vidacs Life, Death and The Biscuit: Football and the Embodiment of Society in Liberia, West Africa; G.Armstrong Playing Against Deprivation: Football and Development in Nairobi, Kenya; H.Hognestad & A.Tollisen PART FOUR: MOVING WITH THE BALL Three Geographies of African Footballer Migration: Patterns, Problems and Postcoloniality; J.Bale The Migration of the Black Panther: An Interview with Eusebio of Mozambique and Portugal; G.Armstrong Extra Time; P.Woodward

'...this rich history of African football fills a glaring sporting gap.' - Brian Oliver, Observer '...the book provides the best and most enlightening survey of the history and meaning of African football yet.' - David Goldblatt, The Times Literary Supplement '..impressive collection' - The Times 'seminally terrific...a compelling political and cultural read.' - Frank Keating, The Guardian

PETER ALEGI is Assistant Professor of History and Director of the African American Studies Programme at Eastern Kentucky, USA JOHN BALE is Lecturer and Researcher at Aarhus University, Denmark and Keele University, UK WIEBE BOER is a PhD student in African History at Yale University, USA TIM EDENSOR is Lecturer in Cultural Studies at Staffordshire University, UK LAURA FAIR is Associate Professor of African History at the University of Oregon, USA YOUSSEF FATES is Docteur d'Etat en Science Politique a the University of Paris, France HANS HOGNESTAD is a Social Anthropologist and Researcher at the Norwegian University for Sport and Physical Education, Norway IBRAHIM KOODORUTH is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Mauritius ALEX LAST is a Freelance Journalist, UK GARETH STANTON is Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK ARVID TOLLISEN is teaches Sport and Physical Education at Fredtun College, Stavern, Norway BEA VIDACS is Lecturer in Anthropology at Baruch College, City University of New York, USA PETER WOODWARD is Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Reading, UK